"Madame" has been after me to share what we do in the kitchen, so here goes!
I have a passion for preparing and serving great food. I have a goal of getting a great meal on the table every evening in around 45 minutes - the time it takes when I get the phone call that "Madame" is leaving work until the time we eat. I look for fresh ingredients - in season, supplemented with herbs, peppers, and very occasional tomatoes from the garden.

Sunday, February 26, 2012

These biscuits (cookies) are a variant on a recipe from my grandmother, handed down to me by my mother. So when I was last in England talking to her, I asked whether she made them by the "creaming method" or whether she made them like pastry. She also told me to use "proper butter" not the unsalted stuff! I ignored that admonition, but added salt anyway!In the first post on the subject, I had assumed the creaming method, but 2 weeks ago, she corrected me and said that she always makes them like pastry. So for a Day in Dinner I made them like pastry. I also increased the rosemary slightly to get a bit more flavor.Ingredients - Biscuits4 oz powdered (icing) sugar6 oz all purpose flour4 oz slivered almonds, toasteda pinch of salt
2 T rosemary leaves
8 oz cold unsalted butter - cut into 1/2 inch cubes.Method - Biscuits
Place the flour, almonds, salt, sugar, rosemary into the food processor. Pulse several times until the almonds are ground finely and well incorporated. Add the cubed butter and pulse to incorporate. Continue to pulse until the dough comes together into a single piece. Don't overmix as you will end up with too much gluten.
Turn the dough out, form into a disk, wrap in cling wrap and place in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes, up to a couple of hours.
Heat oven to 350F
Roll dough out into about 1/8in to 1/4 in thickness. Cut into 1in rounds.
Bake on a lined cookie sheet for 7 minutes, turn the temp down to 325 and bake until brown (another 7 mins or so). Rotate the pan when you change the temp.
Allow to cool on a wire rack.Ingredients - Coffee Infused Vodka
2 Cups good quality vodka - we use Tito's because it is the nearest we can find to locally made.
2T Roasted coffee beans ( medium/dark roast works best).Method
Pour the vodka over the coffee beans in a glass bottle. Leave to steep at room temperature for at least 2 weeks, turning occasionally. When the vodka is the color of Scotch whisky, place the bottle in the freezer. It will keep almost indefinitely. You do however want to drink it very cold.Serving
Serve the vodka in chilled vodka glasses (1 oz per person) with three coffee beans in each glass, accompanied by 2 or 3 of the biscuits.